COVER REVEAL | The Spook Who Sat By The Door: The first Black man in the CIA (2024)

“In all his career as a professional Negro, Summerfield had never before encountered a whiteliberal who actually wanted an original opinion from a Negro concerningcivil rights, for they all considered themselves experts on the subject.”

Original UK editor and publisher Margaret Busby CBE, Hon. FRSL (DLitt) returns to provide the introduction to Jacaranda Books Art LTD’s republication/issue of Sam Greenlee’s controversial 1960’s literary classic, The Spook Who Sat by the Door. Margaret Busby explains that within The Spook Who Sat By The Door, ‘we find an unwavering articulation of the perennial fight for freedom, freedom in all forms and to be all things.’

To deliver the cover designed by Komikamo Art, Jacaranda Books has partnered with The Floor Magazine; an online and print publication celebrating emerging talents of colour in the literary and creative worlds.

With a belief that ‘what is covered and who covers it ultimately decides what is deemed important news’ and a history of delivering ‘meaningful commentary and shaping the narrative on pop culture,’ The Floor Magazine is the perfect partner for Jacaranda Books to excitedly deliver this reimagined perspective of the original dark satire of race relations in America.

With an afterword by Natiki Hope Pressley—daughter of the now deceased author, Sam Greenlee—The Spook Who Sat By the Door returns to public consciousness at a time when we are seeing huge divides between the will of the political class and the people, taking the form of protests being defined by the presence of armed forces.

Continuously available in print since 1968, The Spook Who Sat By The Door has become embedded in progressive anti-racist culture with wide circulation of the book and hotly debated film. A literary classic, this novel is a strong comment on entrenched racial inequities in the United States in the late 1960s. With its focus on the militancy that characterised the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, this is the story of one man's reaction to ruling-class hypocrisy in ways that make the novel autobiographical and personal. As a tale of a reaction to the forces of oppression, this book is universal.

The Spook Who Sat By The Door is out 10th October 2024, and now available for preorder.